elită

Forms

elită f (plural elite)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French élite.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The French noun is the feminine of the old past participle of élire (“to choose”), used as a noun; the verb comes from Latin ēligō (“to pick out”), formed from ex- (“out of”) and legō (“to gather”).^[2][6] The old participle was Old French eslit, and the French word is first recorded in 1176, in a phrase of Chrétien de Troyes meaning “at your choice”, and as a noun at the end of the 14th century.^[7]

Gabinschi groups it with aleasă “chosen” as words that go back to ēlēcta, the feminine participle of the Latin verb.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to 1860, in the works of Ion Heliade-Rădulescu, and MDA2 also takes its first record from Heliade's works.^[2][3] The sense is the oldest one, the best and most distinguished part of a group.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Scriban (1939) defines it as what is most choice and distinguished, elita unei societăți, with the phrases persoană de elită “a person of distinction” and trupe de elită “picked troops”.^[6] In French the phrase d'élite first appeared in troupe d'élite in the 17th century.^[7] The adjectival phrase de elită “choice, distinguished” is listed in every modern dictionary.^[4][3]

The dictionaries of the 1950s defined it in terms of class: the part of society whose members, privileged, consider themselves superior to the masses.^[9][10] DEX now gives a neutral definition, the group that represents what is best in a community.^[4] Specialised senses arose in animal and plant breeding: the animals closest to the breed standard, and the plants selected for improving a variety.^[2][3]

Its family came in the late 19th and the 20th centuries: elitist (1891) and elitism (1893) from French, elitar (1967) from French and Russian, and antielitist (1974) and antielitism (1980) from English.^[2]

Timeline

• 1860 – first record, in Heliade-Rădulescu.^[2]
• 1891 – elitist.^[2]
• 1893 – elitism.^[2]
• 1939 – Scriban records persoană de elită and trupe de elită.^[6]
• 1967 – elitar.^[2]
• 1974 – antielitist, from English.^[2]
• 1980 – antielitism, from English.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An elite: the group of people that represents what is best and most valuable in a community or society.^[4][3][1]
2. What is best, most worthy of being chosen;^[11] de elită “choice, distinguished”: un muzician de elită.^[4][3]
3. (zoology) A group of animals that come closest to the standard of their breed.^[2][3]
4. (botany) A group of plants that meet the conditions to be selected for improving a variety.^[2][3]

Word family

• elitar
• elitism
• elitist

Related words

• ales
• alege
• French élite

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. elită
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 803
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 350
5. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
6. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 465
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera
9. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 207
11. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 128